A key tenet of the Crisafulli Government's draft 25-year Queensland Future Timber Plan has been thrown into question after analysis reveals no factual basis for its claim 32% of the average home is built with hardwood timbers.

The Plan draft states that on current estimates, the average amount of structural timber used in a traditional new one-to-two storey detached home is approximately 68% softwood and 32% hardwood timber. In Queensland, hardwood is sourced from native forests.

The Timber Plan source is a 2010 report but the report author has confirmed this report contains no reference to an industry average for hardwood structural timber components in Australian house construction.

Source: Queensland Future Timber Plan 2050, copyright Queensland Government

In fact, architects say hardwood is "hardly used at all" in modern building, yet the Crisafulli Government's Timber Plan aims to maximise hardwood logging of native forests, further threatening endangered greater gliders and other forest dependent threatened animals and plants.

New data released today shows 323,676 hectares of native forest and bushland - the equivalent of 43,600 Suncorp Stadiums - has been cleared in just one year, a devastating result for Queensland’s native animals. 

The work of citizen scientists has laid bare the staggering lack of federal government monitoring of deforestation in Australia, after six instances of potentially unlawful land clearing were uncovered in the last four months through a volunteer monitoring program.

A joint investigation by three of Australia's leading environmental organisations has uncovered multiple instances of large-scale deforestation which were not referred to the federal government for approval.

The bulldozing of a 2km-long driveway through Bowling Green National Park near Townsville is an international embarrassment for Queensland, highlighting critical problems in the state’s ability to respond to illegal clearing across the state.

Yesterday on National Trees Day, the Queensland Government released the latest Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) report. The report shows 349,399 hectares of land was cleared during the reporting period of 2020-2021, cementing Queensland as the national leader in deforestation and continuing Australia’s unenviable international status as a hotspot for deforestation.

While welcoming the decrease in land clearing as shown in the 2020-2021 SLATS yesterday, the Wilderness Society and Queensland Conservation Council have recently acquired new footage, taken this year in Central Queensland, highlighting the devastating reality of broadscale land clearing. Land clearing and deforestation are still driving environmental destruction in Queensland.

Conservationists say the Queensland State Budget is a step in the right direction for threatened wildlife and the new protected areas they desperately need.

More than $215 million will be spent on national parks, both expanding the protected areas estate, funding its management and supporting co-management with First Nations Peoples.

The 2023 Queensland budget, released this week, has been an opportunity for the state to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to protecting our climate, communities and nature for future generations.

Overall this budget is extremely positive for the state. With record investment in long-term infrastructure for renewable energy projects, immediate cost-of-living relief on energy bills for all households, and funding to increase national parks and prevent land clearing, there are many things to celebrate.

Much of this has been funded by a modest increase in royalties on the superprofits of Queensland coal companies, meaning those who contributed most to the climate and cost of living crisis are finally helping pay for the renewable energy solutions.

More than 100,000 hectares of land - an area the size of almost 14,000 Suncorp Stadiums - was cleared over a two year period that was unexplained and required further investigation, according to a report which details the regulatory assessments behind the land clearing figures in Queensland. 

Queensland Conservation Council Nature Campaigner Natalie Frost said:

“This report contains shocking evidence that the government has no idea the true scale of land clearing.

Every single hectare of endangered species habitat is vital for the continuation of some of our most iconic species.”

“It’s clear that legislative loopholes and lack of enforcement by the Queensland Government allows broadscale deforestation to continue, particularly in endangered and of concern ecosystems. This 100,000 hectares is only a quarter of the 418,656 hectares of land clearing as per the latest government data.”

“What’s most shocking is the amount of clearing being done in areas with endangered and of concern regional ecosystems. In just two years, nearly 60,000 hectares of vulnerable forest and bushland were cleared that should have been protected.”

In 2017, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk committed to end broadscale land clearing in Queensland. The latest statewide landcover and tree study (SLATS) report released in December last year coupled with the SLATS vegetation management analysis report reveals that Queensland continues to clear land at alarming rates with most clearing exempt from any regulation. 

“If we continue to clear forests at this rate there won’t be a future for species like the koala and greater glider. With the federal government releasing a plan to halt species extinctions, it’s imperative that the Queensland government addresses the out of control land clearing problem.”  

The Queensland Conservation Council has joined the Wilderness Society, Australian Conservation Foundation and WWF-Australia to form the Queensland Forests Alliance to advocate for the protection of Queensland’s iconic forests and woodlands.  

–ENDS–

The SLATS vegetation management analysis can be found here

The SLATS report can be found here

Contact:

Natalie Frost, Nature Campaigner, Queensland Conservation Council

0411 074 846

[email protected]